"Why Ideye was dropped"

Brown Ideye

Head coach of the Nigeria national team, Stephen Keshi has explained the shock exclusion of striker, Brown Ideye from the provisional 30-man list for the 2014 Fifa World Cup finals in Brazil.

Ideye was a consistent figure in Nigeria’s 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign. He also played an important role as Nigeria surprisingly won the 2013 Africa Nations Cup in South Africa.

Keshi said Ideye “is a good” player but added that not all good players go to the World Cup.

“Brown Ideye is a good player. He’s a hard worker but all the same, you need to score goals.

“We spoke so many times. I don’t know what’s been happening to him. It’s a pity he’s not going with us to the World Cup. As a coach, you sometimes have to make difficult decisions but that’s how it is,” Keshi exclusively told supersport.com.

Keshi said he did not inform the striker beforehand that he was going to be dropped.

“No, I did not speak to him before the list was released. It’s really not feasible because I will then have to speak to hundreds of others too.”

“Nigeria is a country blessed with so many football players. Not everyone can go to the World Cup,” he said.

Ideye has been capped 23 times for Nigeria at senior level scoring five goals in the process.